RKA inkhttps://www.rkaink.com
Web Design & Digital Strategy for Small BusinessesSat, 02 Dec 2017 14:38:32 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.4To Every Marketer Preaching “Be Yourself,” I’m Calling Bullsh*thttps://www.rkaink.com/be-yourself-marketing-bull/
https://www.rkaink.com/be-yourself-marketing-bull/#commentsFri, 20 Oct 2017 13:23:48 +0000https://www.rkaink.com/?p=9492Be yourself,” they say. “Authenticity sells.” And in the same breath, “Just follow these 7 steps and – ” Hold up. Back up the truck. I call bullsh*t. To every marketer advising small business owners to both “be themselves” and follow a magic funnel/formula/farfegnugen to success, I see you. And I’m sick of you. To […]

The message is both “be yourself” and “follow the rules”: two contradictory statements if I’ve ever seen ‘em. The idea is that I should be able to squeeze my unique personality into a keyword packed headline aaaaand no less than 5 posts per week (but no more than 14).

Free to be meeeeee (while “freely” connecting with 25-50 new people every 7 days).

What if my “authentic self” is an introvert? What if the “real me” is too garrulous to be squashed into 120 characters or less? What if my “true self” breaks every rule she’s handed?

Be yourself, as long as “you” are a vanilla flavored rule follower who loves other peoples’ hand me down strategies.

It took me a while to figure out why this approach wasn’t working for me – or my clients. It’s as simple as this; people’s “real selves” don’t fit into pre-fab marketing systems. And because I’ve seen plenty of folks squander their fortunes trying to fit their feet into Cinderella’s glass slipper, I decided to write this post.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth; if you want to “be yourself” in your marketing, you’ll have to do more than break the rules – you’ll need to write your own and risk things not always working out the way you imagine.

In fact, this much is true, whether you strive to show up authentically or not.

The funnels and formulas and farfegnugens making marketers rich – and you poor and insecure – only exist because theircreators re-wrote the rules according to their own unique strengths, failed gloriously over and over again, and eventually found something that worked. For them and people just like them.

Trying to fit your foot into their glass slipper will only leave you bloody and limping while your “authentic self” becomes angry and bitter. (Not a great sales combo.)

So, you can either spend your life trying to find a funnel peddling marketer exactly like you and hope their hand me down strategies are still relevant or you can spend that time re-writing the rules according to your own unique strengths.

Andddd failing gloriously over and over again.

Until you find the something that works.

“Be yourself” is some of the best marketing advice you can get, as long as it comes with a disclaimer that this approach requires discovery, exploration, courage, and a willingness to fail. No pre-fab marketing systems here.

It requires you to tap into the parts of yourself that light you up and draw others to you and then play with using those parts of yourself to shine light on your business and brand message.

What does this look like? In my case, after many glorious failures, I realized that one of my unique strengths is my sense of humor, my ability to do strange and funny characters to shine light on what’s happening around me, and my fearlessness when it comes to being utterly ridiculous. Hmmm…how does one “monetize” that?

How about a weekly Facebook Live show called “Awkward Marketing” where I talk about building businesses and make fun of myself along the way? I went back and forth on naming my show “Awkward Marketing” for a long time because, well, the rules tell me my show title should be aspirational – it should paint the picture of the results I deliver or how I make my clients’ lives better. I mean, who aspires to be awkward in their marketing? But I bought the domain anyway and simmered on the idea until, week after week, I just started naming my own awkwardness on the show as it happened. (Live broadcasting will make awkward moments easy to come by.) And, then I knew the name fit like a glove.

I know that no one aspires to be an awkward marketer. But I also know that many small business owners feel awkward when they’re marketing and promoting themselves. And that feeling doesn’t go away. So, I decided to work my show around the uncomfortable feelings so many of us experience when we’re in front of an audience trying to sell stuff and not look like utter clods.

The show has become a place for me to bring my uniqueness into my business in ways that no marketer would ever have prescribed me in a pre-fab system (or funnel or formula or farfegnugen). I had to be willing to take risks, be curious, and try new things. Stuff that had never been done before. Stuff that terrified me.

Take “Facebook Live: The Musical”: my most popular episode to date. This episode happened when I tapped into one of my very non-business talents – making up impromptu songs/singing my way through the day/lifelong devotion to musical theater – and decided to try it out as a way of delivering content to my audience. I had never seen anyone do this before in the marketing space.

And I broke all the rules.

This episode was not attached to a funnel. I didn’t use it to build my list or sell a product or service. I did the episode for the sake of it – to try new things and actually enjoy myself while marketing – and four months later it still brings me leads and clients. Without a sales pitch. Without an opt-in. Without any call to action other than, “Come have fun with me.”

Because one of the reasons “being yourself” in marketing is so effective is that, when you’re on fire and loving what you’re doing, you will become a magnet that draws people in. Rarely (if ever) will you find something that excites you to your core in a pre-fab marketing system with 7 steps and a six-figure promise. You’re going to have to find it for yourself.

If you’re stumped on what that looks like for you, start with my permission slip to break the rules:

You don’t have to be on video

You don’t have to get on the phone with every prospective client

You don’t have to end everything with a call to action

You don’t have to spend all day on social media

You don’t have to sell stuff all the time

You don’t have to follow anyone’s funnel or formula or farfegnugen

Now that you’re free, what might you experiment with today? How might you try something new in your marketing – something you’re pretty sure that no expert would prescribe you but that would make marketing actually feel fun?

I’ll go first. Starting on Monday October 23rd until Friday October 27th, I’m going to be introducing you to a different awkward marketer each day. (I got wigs, I got costumes, I got a green screen! This is going to be wiiiiiild, guys.) Then, starting on Friday October 27th until Monday October 30th, I’m asking you to vote on the awkward marketer who makes you cringe the MOST. On my Halloween episode of Awkward Marketing, a very special guest will be revealing who you chose as the most awkward marketer of them all and one lucky voter will be winning a $250 Amazon gift certificate and a marketing strategy sesh with yours truly. (Plus extra surprises for my Instagram followers.)

This idea didn’t come about because someone prescribed it to me. It came from my love of strange and funny characters and, more than anything, calling bullsh*t on marketing tactics that hurt businesses more than they help. (And I also just love dressing up for Halloween.) You can sign up here to get notified when the fun begins:

Until then…I know it’s scary, but be yourself, boo.

]]>https://www.rkaink.com/be-yourself-marketing-bull/feed/2The BIGGEST Mistake Coaches Make Online (And What It’s Costing You)https://www.rkaink.com/biggest-mistake-coaches-make-online-costing-money/
https://www.rkaink.com/biggest-mistake-coaches-make-online-costing-money/#respondFri, 13 Oct 2017 17:57:26 +0000https://www.rkaink.com/?p=9458The BIGGEST Mistake Coaches Make On Their Website Coaches, you’re LOSING MONEY. And it’s all your website’s fault. As a web designer, I work with a looooot of coaches (some of the best in the biz) and over the years I’ve pinpointed the BIGGEST MISTAKE I see coaches making on their websites — and it’s […]

As a web designer, I work with a looooot of coaches (some of the best in the biz) and over the years I’ve pinpointed the BIGGEST MISTAKE I see coaches making on their websites — and it’s costing them money and clients.

The good news is, this problem is easy to solve. (And you DON’T have to build a brand new website to do it.)

Join me for another episode of Awkward Marketing as I break down the #1 mistake I see coaches making on their websites AND what to do about it.

If you’re a coach or a service provider, you’re not going to want to miss this one.

Show Notes: The Quick ‘n’ Dirty

Coaches, you’re LOSING MONEY. And it’s all your website’s fault.

As a web designer, I work with a looooot of coaches (some of the best in the biz) and over the years I’ve pinpointed the BIGGEST MISTAKE I see coaches making on their websites — and it’s costing them money and clients.

The good news is, this problem is easy to solve. (And you DON’T have to build a brand new website to do it.)

In Episode 29 of Awkward Marketing, I break down the #1 mistake I see coaches making on their websites AND what to do about it. Curious?

Your website’s job is to invite people into relationship with you, not to lay out every single possible way you can work with a client. And let’s be real: they don’t really care about how you do it, anyway. Clients want to know the results you can deliver and what their life will look like after working with you!

Full Transcript: The Whole Shebang

I’m back! Hey, it’s RKA, wow it feels good to say that. And I’m here, I’m awkward, and I’m marketing. So excited to see you guys.

It’s another episode of Awkward Marketing. I took a little digital detox there. You know, who doesn’t need to just unplug, hang out with their dogs, drink some cider on their deck. That’s what I did, I actually read a real book, not my iPhone, and now I’m back at ya with another episode of Awkward Marketing, and today I’m excited because we’re talking about a big mistake, something I see all the time.

As a web designer and digital strategist, I work with a lot of coaches and service providers, and I work with some of the best in the biz. So I’ve seen the tactics and the approaches that really lead people to success, that build their businesses, that help them bring in clients, and I’ve also seen some pretty awkward mistakes that cost people money, that cost people clients, that cost people face. And so I don’t want that to happen to y’all. I wanna give you a heads up.

I’m talking today about the number one biggest mistake. Ooh, I don’t know why I reminded myself of someone I don’t wanna remind myself of. Biggest mistake that I see coaches making on their websites, costing you money, costing you clients, and how you can prevent it, and what to do instead. I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking RKA, you’re probably gonna tell me it’s something design related and that I’m gonna have to redo my whole damn website, because that’s what you do. You’re a web designer, you’re trying to sell me stuff.

No, guess what, spoiler alert, this big mistake that I see coaches making on their website, it’s not your fonts, it’s not your color pallette, it’s not your web design at all. It’s something even bigger, something much worse. Megan Winkler is here, hey girl! The brainy babe, she’s so brainy. You’re brainy to be here today, I’ll tell ya that much.

So, yeah, it’s not your design. It’s not your colors, it’s not your fonts, it’s not your web design. That’s not the mistake I see coaches making on their website but I’ll tell you what is. But first, a little anecdote, a little story. Come down with me on story telling lane.

So, I lived in Mexico for almost 8 years, and while there I got used to their beautiful fresh markets with local vegetables, just all of the stuff that was brought in down from the mountain every day. And the supermarkets themself were pretty small, there weren’t aisles and aisles and aisles of all these different things to choose from, it was just the basics, there was a couple of brands to choose from and that was it. So I got used to that, and I remember when I used to come back home to visit Chicago and head into a Jewel-Osco, heads up, to head into a Jewel-Osco I was just completely overwhelmed by all of the options, all of the varieties that I had to choose from.

I remember specifically the cracker aisle, getting lost in the cracker aisle. There was so many choices. I gotta tell you what, I spend many years in Mexico hankering for a Cheez-It. Gosh darn it, if I coulda just had you know at any given time I probably was thinking either about Cheez-Its or Portillo’s.

And so I remember going down the cracker aisle, being like I’m gonna get myself a Cheez-It, and there were chili cheese, and Swiss cheese, and cheddar cheese and three cheese, no cheese, gluten free, gluten full, reduced fat, full fat, kind of a little bit of all, all of the different varieties that your little heart could dream of. I mean dozens and dozens of types of crackers. And my Cheez-It, guess what my Cheez-It loving heart took home with it, guess what I took home to fill that Cheez-It sized hole in my stomach? Nothing. I bought nothing. Because I became paralyzed with so many choices.

So if you can’t tell where I’m going, what the heck, you’re saying, RKA what the heck do crackers have to do with life coaching websites? And I’m gonna tell you.

This is the number one biggest mistake that I see coaches making, and service providers, making on their websites, costing them clients, costing them money, it is selling too much stuff! Too much stuff!

And I’ll tell you what, it usually looks a little bit like this. I will be collecting content for the website and I will get a big work with me document that says something like, okay, I’ve got a 60 minute session or you can get two 30 minute sessions. You can have a 45 minute session, you can have a 90 minute session, you could have half day session, you have the three quarter day session. What about a full day session? What about a whole day intensive? You know, my best pack value is eight and a half sessions, but you only get that if you buy two packages of it.

Oh and that’s not all, I’ve got a online course that helps you over come your anxiety, I’ve got a live workshop that’ll have you bust through your money box, I’ve got a group program that’ll help you discover the Guru within. I’ve got an annual retreat that’ll help you connect to your sisters and form community. Which one do you want?

And what’s so crazy about this is my clients when we talk through, and we strategically these options, this is the reasoning behind it. It’s I wanna make sure that people who come to my website know every way that I can help them. I don’t wanna lose revenue, I wanna make sure I’m not leaving money on the table. So what if somebody comes in and they want help with their anxiety, and all they see is my stuff for the feminine essence? What if somebody comes in and they want a 45 minute session with me, they can only afford that? They don’t want a 90 minute session with me. Shouldn’t I offer both? Shouldn’t I make it as easy as possible for people to know all the ways that I serve them? And I get it, you want the whole world to know just how many ways you serve them. Just how many things you can do. You don’t want anyone to be left out.

But this is not actually how it happens. Visitors don’t go to your website and say “oh wow, this is amazing, I can just work with this person in so many ways, they have so many ways to help me!” There are three things that happen when you sell so much stuff on your website. Hey Heather, Heather knows what I’m talking about. Heather of Designmancy, she’s an amazing word process wizard, web design wiz, so I’m so happy to have you here Heather.

Three things that happen when you’re selling so much stuff on your website. Number one, if you remember back to my cracker analogy, your visitor is paralyzed with so many choices. It’s like me being like do I get chili cheese, or Swiss cheese, three cheese, four cheese, five cheese, six cheese, no cheese, all cheese? I don’t know, too many cheese! And so I go into the supermarket thinking I’m gonna get some Cheez-Its to fill that cracker sized hole in my heart, and I leave with absolutely nothing at all because I can’t, I can’t choose. So that’s the first thing that happens. Your visitor is paralyzed by and overwhelmed by so many choices, and actually they’ve done studies about this, I’m not just pulling this out of my butt. They did studies at this at Columbia University, and all other sorts of, you know, fancy places. All about the fact that so often too many choices actually results in less sales for companies, not more. Isn’t that weird? Isn’t that weird, ’cause we’re like the choice generation. We could like, custom create our own cracker. I’m sure there’s a website out there that’s like customcrackers.com, check it out, I dunno. I hope that’s… it could be bad. But so yeah, that first thing that happens is people are paralyzed by indecision.

The second thing that happens is they start to doubt themselves, they start to doubt what they need. So going back to the life coach that’s got an online course for anxiety, and a group program for money blocks, and a live workshop for finding your inner Guru, and an annual retreat for sisterhood community. You know, you come to the site and you see all this stuff, and you look around and you think “wow, well you know, I really could use help with my anxiety. And I also really could use help busting through my money blocks, and I’d really love to access my inner guru, and hey I wanna have sisterhood and community.” and you start thinking to yourself, which one do I really need? What’s gonna serve me best?

Just like me in the cracker aisle being like well, I’ve had a hankering for Cheez-Its for two and a half years damn it, which cheese is gonna fill that need? And so you don’t know, is it chili cheese, is it three cheese, is it Swiss cheese, is it Jalapeno cheddar? Which one is it? You doubt yourself, and your client starts to doubt themself and what’s really truly going to serve them. Hey Ashley, from Toronto, alright, we’re gettin’ international today. We’ve got Heather, she’s in the UK, Ashley from Toronto, and me, I’m on another planet if you can’t already tell.

So yeah, I mean, the first thing that happens is people are paralyzed by too many choices. Then they start to doubt what do I really need, though? What’s really gonna serve me? They don’t know.

And the third thing that happens is they start to doubt you. They start to doubt your expertise. You have so many ways of working with people, and so many things that you help them with, and so what they always say, jack of all trades, master of none. Would you rather work with someone who like does a little bit of everything, like kinda good, fine, whatevs, totes norms. Or, totes norms, I dunno if that’s a thing but it is now. Or do you wanna work with someone who’s the top of their field, who’s the best of the best of what they do? And when you’re trying to make sure, so you know I’m going a little bit into the land of the niche here, talking a little bit about how you need a niche.

But when you’re offering your clients a smorgasbord of every possible way they could work with you, and every possible problem that you could maybe help them solve, they start to wonder are you the best person for the job? So going back here to review, this is the biggest mistake. This is the biggest mistake I see coaches making on their website, they’re selling too much stuff. And here’s the other thing.

Here’s the other thing. Even if you weren’t selling too much stuff, what we know and what I know as a web designer, I’ve done dozens of coaching sites over the years, do you know how often a visitor comes to a coaching website for the, you know, whether it’s the first time or the fifth, and says I’m just gonna go over here and I’m gonna click buy now on this $2,000 coaching pack, I’m just gonna buy it, I’m just gonna buy it right here on the site, I’m not gonna talk to the coach, not gonna get a feel for him, just gonna go ahead and buy it. Like, point zero one percent of the time. And that point zero one percent is almost always someone that has already worked with the coach. Somebody that’s already in their world.

So this is a mistake that I see coaches making is not only throwing up every possible option. Every possible option, every way that you could work with this person in any universe under the sun. But also expecting that people are going, that their first step, getting really distracted, that people’s first step is gonna be to just like put this in their shopping cart? No, that’s not your website’s job actually.

Your website’s job, and we’re talking about, we’re not talking about sales pages, we’re not talking about landing pages, we’re talking about your evergreen digital home website. Its job is not to lay out every possible way that you could ever work with a client. Your website’s job is to establish, start building trust with your audience, establish your expertise and your authority, and to bring people, invite people into relationship with you. That’s what your website’s job is.

And we know, as I said, we know people aren’t going to your website and like going through the list of many options and being like alright I’m gonna scroll down here, click on this $3,500 annual retreat, I’m just gonna buy it now. They’re not doing that! That’s not the website’s job at this place. Now, I’m not saying you can’t sell an online course, and a group retreat, and a group program, and a workshop, I’m not saying you can’t. And I’m not saying that you also can’t sell 60 minute sessions and 45 minute sessions and 90 minute sessions and half day session, and three quarter day sessions, and all day. I’m not saying you can’t sell all that stuff. But putting it in a big list, like a big menu on your website, it’s not actually doing what you think it’s doing. And it’s actually, as I said, paralyzing your folks. Paralyzing your visitors into indecision, making them doubt themselves, making them doubt you. And so you’re losing people instead of gaining them.

So as I said, your website’s job is to build trust. It’s to establish your authority and expertise, and it’s to invite people into relationship with you. ’cause I’m talking to you coaches out there, and I know that nine times out of ten, the first step into your kind of world, your coaching world is not a buy now button on your website. It’s typically a conversation. It’s typically a discovery call. Or it’s typically an application of some sort. So I go and I put in some information about myself, what I’m dealing with, what’s on my mind, what my goals are, and then you and your team kind of review that and we decide what the next step is gonna be, or, I get in a phone call with you. And we talk it through, we talk about what’s going on with me, what do I need help with? And that’s the first step.

So the first step is not going through a sea of assorted options and choosing which one maybe is gonna help me, no. No, that’s where you’re losing people. Your website’s job is to invite people into that first step with you, and when people are going to your website, they’re not interested in what are all the zillion ways I could maybe, I’m not thinking to myself, I’m not waking up in the morning saying you know what, I really want a 45 minute session with a life coach. Let me go see who fits the bill. You know what I’m saying? No, I’m thinking, gosh I am so stressed all the time, I am not living my life to the fullest, I’m not enjoying my time with my family, with my husband, with my kids, whatever. And something’s gotta give, I need help. That’s what the person who’s going to a coaching site is thinking. Or I’m, I hate my job, I can’t stand it one damn minute longer, I know I wanna do something else. I wanna transition, I wanna start my own biz, whatever it might be, something’s gotta give.

And so what I’m looking for when I go to a website is the before and after. I’m looking for how have you helped people like me? With similar problems to mine, and what does their life look like after they’ve worked together? That’s what I’m looking for. I’m not looking for how many sessions do you do? I’m not looking for your packages. I’m not looking for your programs, your retreats, your workshops, I don’t care how that happens. You know what I’m saying? I’m not going around being like let me find a live workshop in my area to help me with my anxiety. No, I don’t care how it goes down. I just care that I feel better.

So, Heather said a couple minutes ago, you could have any colors as long as you want, as long as it’s black. See, yes, Ford, you know what? That’s how this started. They did it right. Heather says, what pairs nicely with that is focusing towards your list then having open dates for each logical set of bigger products courses like lunches that repeat. Yes, so, what I was saying before. I’m not telling you to only offer one way of working with you. I’m not saying you gotta get rid of all of your options. But having them just kind of in an assorted list on your website, that’s not gonna sell them for you. You’re gonna need to create campaigns around each of your high level offerings. So if you offer an annual retreat, I’m sorry, but just putting it up on your website with like this is when we go to Hawaii, and we swim with dolphins, like, you know? You’re gonna come along. That’s not gonna be, and just hoping that people go to your website and they click on that one thing and they sign up, that’s not gonna be enough. You’re gonna have to create a whole campaign where you’re creating content, where you’re doing ads, where you’re doing e-mails to your list, or maybe you’re doing a webinar.

You’re doing a whole bunch of stuff funneling people, I know, I said the word, I said the F word, it’s gross, I know. But you gotta have it. Funneling people towards that retreat. And reminding them, because if I go to your website today and see that you’ve got a retreat in April, that’s pretty sweet, I’m excited about that. But what are the odds that I’m gonna remember that, right? So, if at anything, if you list those types of things on your website at all, you list them with a hey, you know, sign up for my newsletter to find, to be the first to know when this retreat goes on for sale.

But for each of these high level offerings, just like Heather just said, ’cause she’s the best, just like Heather just said, you’re gonna wanna create campaigns around those. You’re not gonna be selling them by just the kind of basic boilerplate description that’s on your website. You’re gonna be selling them through a targeted campaign, and that’s where your list comes in.

So yeah, it goes back to what is the first step into the relationship with you? I mentioned potentially getting on a call, I mentioned fill out an application, I also, for a lot of coaches, and not for a lot of coaches, for many coaches, that first step into relationship may not be the step that says I’m ready to work with you. That might be a little too much too soon. And so yeah, what is often a first step is gonna be you showing a little bit of value. So maybe that’s a little free course that gets dripped out through e-mail over a couple of days, or weeks. Maybe it’s an e-book, whether you share one of your foundational philosophies and how you help people that kind of gives them a little taste, a little tastey-taste of what you’re all about. Maybe it’s that. Maybe it’s a, I dunno, what else, meditation. Maybe it’s a guided meditation, then they’ve got that in their, you know, on their, what do we have? This thing, they’ve got it in their do-gibbies, they’ve got it in their do-gibbie and they listen to it, you know, every morning to help them begin the day, and center their day.

So yeah, this is really perfect what Heather just said, and all of these things I just mentioned are gonna link to the list. So you’re building your list, and then your list is a source and a way of continuing to nurture the relationship with that person over time. It’s not gonna be one visit to your website that I go through a menu of zillions of options, click on one, and buy. That doesn’t happen. And I love how Heather describes funnels. Happy guiding journeys, funnels. Yes, really, the way I like to describe funnels to my clients is a funnel is the way you lead someone from first finding out about you, to becoming your most devoted loyal fan.

What’s the journey you take them on? That’s what the funnel really is. And all of the steps in there, lots of steps, maybe you know, different steps here and there. But that’s really what a funnel is. It’s leading people into deeper relationship with you. You know, that’s what it is. Some people are like it’s all focused on the sale, but ultimately if you’re a coach, yeah you want sales but your goal is to have meaningful relationships with your clients and to make meaningful change in their lives. Just like I was saying before, when someone goes to your site, they don’t wanna know do you, can I work with you for 45 minutes at a time? Could I buy a package of three, and save $25? No, they wanna know what are your client’s lives like after they work with you. What’s the before and after? What’s my life gonna look like after I do a couple of those sessions? I don’t care if it’s sessions, I don’t care if I have to ride a hot water balloon. A hot water balloon? A hot air balloon. A hot water, can you ride in a hot water balloon? I’m gonna be the first to ride in a… wait… Was that like a tragedy? Never mind, we’re gonna just boop!

This is why they call it Awkward Marketing. So yeah, you know, it’s, they don’t care how they do it, they just care that you’re gonna make their lives better. So that’s it, folks, that’s it. Heather says you sort of gently tour guide them around your site to best help them. I love that, I love that. Yes, and that’s where a really great web designer comes in.

A great designer is gonna help you kind of create those pathways, create, lead people onto the right, you know you’re guiding people to the right places throughout the site so that you are leading them into a relationship with you. You are building trust, you are establishing authority. And you’re starting, you’re startin’ that relationship. That’s what it’s all, don’t we all love the beginning of a relationship, it’s the best part. It’s the best part, you just make out on the couch for hours at a time, and that’s enough. I’m married now, so those are only memories. Butbut oh! That sweet sweet beginning! That’s what you’re doing on your website. And a wonderful, strategic web designer, Heather, like Heather, like RKA, who shall remain named on this podcast, this is you know what, this is what we do here folks, we get awkward. That’s what a great web designer is gonna do. They’re gonna help you architect different ways to lead people into relationship with you, and to do all those things that I just established.

So if this sounds good to you, I wanna give you a little linky-link. Go check out donthireawebdesigner.com. I’ve got a guide in there for you for all the things you kinda gotta think about if you are redoing your website, or you’re thinking that that might be in your future. Here are the things that you wanna take a look at before you hire a web designer. Don’t do it yet, check out the e-book, get cozy on up, get a cup of cider, get your dogs, and read through it. That’s what I recommend. So go over there, donthireawebdesigner.com.

Otherwise, I’ll be back at ya next Wednesday for more Awkward Marketing, love seeing y’all. Ashley, Heather, Megan was here, it’s been a blasty-blast. So guys, coaches, service providers, cut down those offerings. Your website’s job is not to lay out every single possible iteration of options of maybe we could one day, you know, that’s not what you’re supposed to do. You’re not laying out every way you can work with clients. That’s not your website’s job.

Your website’s job, is to lead ultimately, build trust, establish authority, lead people into relationship with you, however that might look. Application, discovery call, show them value through an e-book, course, whatever. Love you guys, that’s what it’s all about. See ya next Wednesday.

]]>https://www.rkaink.com/biggest-mistake-coaches-make-online-costing-money/feed/0Coaches, You’re Selling Too Much Stuff On Your Websitehttps://www.rkaink.com/coaches-selling-too-much-stuff-website/
https://www.rkaink.com/coaches-selling-too-much-stuff-website/#respondTue, 10 Oct 2017 14:14:42 +0000https://www.rkaink.com/?p=9434I lived in Mexico for almost 8 years and I found that there’s something exhilarating and eye-opening about stepping back into your country with new eyes after being away for so long. You notice things you never saw before. In my case, it was crackers. In Mexico, I had grown accustomed to vast local markets […]

]]>I lived in Mexico for almost 8 years and I found that there’s something exhilarating and eye-opening about stepping back into your country with new eyes after being away for so long. You notice things you never saw before.

In my case, it was crackers.

In Mexico, I had grown accustomed to vast local markets with aisles of fresh produce alongside tiny supermarkets with only a handful of processed options.

Then I came home to miles of aisles of colorful snacks – and, as I remember from my first trip back, dozens of varieties of crackers. So many crackers.

And, while at first, I remember feeling thrilled at the cheesy, salty, carb-filled possibilities that lay before me, that excitement soon gave way to overwhelm. I must have paced that long, colorful cracker aisle at least one time for every variety on the shelves.

And then, guess what I brought home with me? Nothing.

I had so many delicious options, I kept second guessing which one would really fill the cracker-sized hole in my stomach. And, if I chose wrong, would I be full of carbs and full of regret? So, instead, I simply chose nothing at all and felt satisfied knowing that, for the remainder of my trip home, an aisle of Chili Cheese flavored flour puffs were always just a car trip away.

Good for my waistline, bad for Kellogg.

Here’s what crackers have to do with coaching websites

I’ve been back in the states for almost a year now – enough time to take the cracker aisle for granted once again like I did before I was an ex-pat. But I find myself reliving this experience again and again each time I work with a coach on their website and we walk through their offerings. All too often, I see coaches and service providers laying out their options like an all-you-can-eat buffet of self improvement. And it’s costing you clients.

In my experience, this desire to list every possible way you could work with people comes from a fear of losing potential clients and losing money.

Most coaches who lay out their offerings this way think they’re expanding their possible revenue streams by ensuring they have a little something for everyone. You want people to know just how much you offer, how versatile you are, that you can meet any client exactly where they’re at – no matter the time, the budget, or the problem.

1. They’re paralyzed with indecision

They’re thinking, “Do I need a 60-minute session or a 90-minute session? A course or a workshop? A group program or a retreat? AHHHH! THERE ARE SO MANY CRACKERS!”

2. They second-guess their own needs

It’s kind of like me, wondering if Chili Cheese or Nacho Cheese or Swiss Cheese or Three Cheese will really fill the cracker-sized hole in my stomach. They all sound good! Where do I staaaart? A girl can only eat so many crackers in one day!

A prospect looks at the myriad problems a coach solves – anxiety, self-confidence, goal-setting, relationship issues, career transition, and on and on and on – and they self-identify with so many of these pain points, they don’t know which one they really need to address first.

3. They doubt your expertise

You’ve heard it before – jack of all trades, master of none. When you offer so many solutions, a prospect begins to wonder how effective any one option can be. They’re thinking, “Well, I could work with a coach who does a little bit of everything or I could find someone who specializes in exactly the problem I’m having. Maybe I need someone who’s at the top of their game.”

And, ultimately, they’re so overwhelmed they don’t choose anything at all! Kind of like me, coming home empty handed from the store, after poring over every cracker variety my carb-loving heart could wish for.

It’s holding you back. It’s turning away clients. And your dream of meeting every prospect where they’re at is backfiring miserably. (If my cracker analogy didn’t do the trick, there’s plenty of research to back me up on this.)

Here’s another thing I know about coaches and their clients – most prospects don’t decide to work with you (not to mention, choose exactly the way that work is going to look) after one visit to your website. It takes a series of interactions with a coach for a prospect to be ready to invest in a coaching relationship.

Your website’s job is not to lay out every possible way you work with people.

Your website’s job to establish your expertise, build trust, and initiate a relationship that you will then nurture over time – through 1:1 interactions, through content, through emails, through social media.

A vast menu of options doesn’t add value, it gets in the way of accomplishing that goal.

What would happen if you simplified your website experience and instead of options, focused on the main problem you help people solve, how you make your client’s lives better, and the first step into starting a relationship with you? (Maybe that’s joining your email list, attending a free training, or hopping on an introductory call.)

My money’s on more money and less confusion. Try it and prove me right.

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https://www.rkaink.com/coaches-selling-too-much-stuff-website/feed/0Why The Shadowban Was The Best Thing To Happen To My Instagramhttps://www.rkaink.com/instagram/
https://www.rkaink.com/instagram/#respondWed, 13 Sep 2017 15:55:40 +0000https://www.rkaink.com/?p=9363You’ve heard the rumors, the whispers, the scary stories told by firelight. Watch out or it could happen to you,” they say. “It will appear when you least expect it and heartlessly snatch your likes in the night.” Some say the Instagram shadowban is just a figment of our collective imagination. Like the Boogeyman of […]

]]>You’ve heard the rumors, the whispers, the scary stories told by firelight.

Watch out or it could happen to you,” they say.

“It will appear when you least expect it and heartlessly snatch your likes in the night.”

Some say the Instagram shadowban is just a figment of our collective imagination. Like the Boogeyman of the social media world, it’s merely a myth told to young ‘grammers to terrify us into behaving and minding our hashtags.

Others say they’ve seen it with their very own eyes and lived through the horror. You wake up one day and your likes are gone, you’ve disappeared from all your well-worn hashtags, no one can find or discover you; it’s like you never existed.

I know because I’ve been there. See, I’m no stranger to shadowbans. In fact, I’ve survived them and lived to tell the tale.

When the shadowban happened to me, it was a day like any other day. I got up, took a morning snap, rustled up some hashtags, and went on my merry way.

A few minutes later, I knew something was horribly wrong. No likes. No comments. Nothing. It was as if I had never posted anything at all. With nimble fingers and fear in my eyes, I frantically tore down my first post of the day and tried again. “M-m-m-aybe there was something wrong with the original post.” I whispered breathlessly to myself, “Maybe it’s a glitch.” I re-posted, holding fiercely to the hope that I’d be spared the wrath of the shadowban.

Again, my post sat untouched. Minutes passed. Not a like came my way. “This can’t be happening,” I yelped, logging into my personal account and unliking myself. Then, one by one, I checked my favorite hashtags as a scream welled up in my throat.

Gone. All gone. I was nowhere to be found. The shadowban had swallowed me whole and there was no defense. My account was but a memory.

Shaking in your #boots? I know. It’s enough to rattle even the grittiest of ‘grammers. But before you run screaming from this post, let me break down what we know about the Instagram shadowban, and why I’m not letting it scare me anymore, starting with the frequently asked questions:

What is a shadowban?

A shadowban, also known as a “stealth ban” is when a social platform limits your account activity without formally banning you. On Instagram, a shadowban means you can’t be easily discovered by new followers. Your posts only appear in the hashtag feeds of people who already follow your account, limiting your reach with new people.

Will Instagram notify me of my shadowban?

Nope. This is part of why it’s called a “shadowban.” It happens silently like a thief in the night. No word, no warning, just the eerie feeling that something is amiss.

How do I know if I’ve been shadowbanned?

The only way to know is by checking your account from a secondary account that doesn’t follow you. In my case, I verified my shadowban by logging into my personal account, unfollowing my business account, and then checking the hashtags feeds where I normally appear. I have a few branded hashtags that only I use and, sure enough, none of my posts appeared there! Remember, you will still appear in the hashtag feeds for people that follow you, so the only way to know you’ve been shadowbanned is to check from an account that doesn’t follow you. Oh, and skip the Shadowban Testers. They’ve been de-bunked.

What causes a shadowban?

Because Instagram has yet to formally speak on the matter, all we can do is speculate about what causes a shadowban. But we’ve got a pretty good idea of the activities that could put your account in hot water:

Bots or auto-posting software: any app that seems too good to be true probably is

Surges of activity: too many likes, comments, or follows in a short span of time.

Using banned hashtags:the list is long and ridiculous but use these hashtags and you could be in Insta jail

Repeating the same hashtags every day: keep it fresh or pay the price

Being reported by another user: Insta doesn’t take kindly to accounts flagged as spammy, pornographic, or abusive by other users

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I’m going to turn this scary story into a heartwarming tale of daring to dream, overcoming adversity, and defying the odds. (Okay, maybe I oversold it just a stitch.) But what I’m trying to say here is, a shadowban doesn’t have to be the death of your Instagram. And there’s a happy ending in all of this if you’ll hear me out.

In the wake of my own shadowban, I went through all the normal stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. The Instagram I had come to know and love was no more. I was living in a new normal. And, once I embraced this new status quo, things started to turn around for me. Here’s what I discovered:

Hashtags give us a false sense of engagement

Instagram as I knew it had become one of my favorite places to get quick, easy, social media validation. Where else can you post something and immediately be gratified with likes from total strangers? Use the right hashtags and you could be looking at a few dozen likes in just a few minutes, a few hundred in just a few hours.

But, for a business ‘grammer like me, how much of that engagement converts into meaningful relationships? How many of those likes become leads? As it turns out, not too many. Instagram had me hooked on the temporary high of quick ‘n’ dirty likes. But that’s all it was, a temporary fix that left me with a headache and not much else.

Sure, in the wild wild west of the worldwide web, it can be soothing and gratifying to feel like someone is listening. And Instagram is good at giving us that impression. But, when you strip away the bots and the hashtag groupies just looking for likes of their own, what you’re left with is just a hollow shell that somewhat resembles engagement, but is nothing more than straight up Insta vanity.

Social media is most valuable when you’re being social

So, if you can’t rely on hashtags to expand your reach and get you found by new people, how can you continue to grow your Instagram? Simple. Be social.

I can hear you groan. “But RKA! I don’t want to actually interact with people on Instagram. I just want to throw up some tags and go!” #sorrynotsorry, if your go-to Insta move is the “hashtag and run,” not only are you lulling yourself into a false sense of engagement, you’re defeating the purpose of social media to begin with.

Social media is meant to be social; it allows us to gather with people from across the planet around common interests, beliefs, goals, and passions. And while some of us may use this tool as a megaphone, the most meaningful results always come when you are meaningfully engaged. If you’re phoning it in (or in this case, hashtagging it in) you can expect little more than superficial results.

A shadowban doesn’t have to mean your account stops growing. When hashtags are off the menu, the best way to continue building your Instagram is to seek out accounts that align with your values and meaningfully participate in the conversations they’ve already got going. This means reading captions, writing comments from the heart, and continuing to re-engage over time.

Yes, this takes more time than the “hashtag and run” but the payoff is results. Followers gained by way of meaningful engagement are more likely to remember you, pay attention to your posts, and keep the relationship going with you over time. And, when all is said and done, aren’t thosethe goals of social media for business? We want people to know who we are, remember us, and pay attention to what we’re saying. And hashtags or no hashtags, there’s simply no better way to accomplish meaningful engagement like this than to show our audience that we care about what they’re saying, too!

Stop scamming and start storytelling

Instagram itself refuses to acknowledge the shadowban. Earlier this year, they issued a statement in which they dodged the topic of bans entirely and instead emphasized the importance of storytelling and focusing on your overall business objective instead of hashtags.

At first blush, this is a frustrating non-answer on Instagram’s part. But, as I processed the denial, anger, and bargaining that came along with my shadowban grief, I eventually came to accept how true this non-answer really was.

We already know that one surefire way to trigger a shadowban is to try and trick our way to a bigger following. We also know that, when Instagram ditched real-time and switched to an algorithm-driven feed, posts are most likely to get seen if they’re garnering genuine engagement. And, finally, we don’t know know, but we have reason to believe that Instagram is playing with new photo recognition technology that will make the tool less hashtag-reliant and more about great content. In other words, hashtagging your way to success will soon be a thing of the past.

This shouldn’t come as a shock. It already happened with search results on Google. Once upon a time you used to be able to load up on keywords and easily get found in search, even if your content was flaming garbage in digital form. Google got wise to this and adjusted their algorithm. Now, you can longer keyword stuff your way to better SEO. The key to being found is creating content that is useful to searchers. And, how does Google judge that? Engagement, social shares, comments, inbound links, etc. Once the only way to get eyes on your content, keywords are now only one small part of the puzzle.

And this is ultimately why the shadowban was the best thing to happen to my Instagram.

It forced me to stop relying on the cheap thrill of hashtag-driven likes and instead focus on meaningfully engaging with new accounts and nurturing my existing followers with killer content. And guess what? Even under a shadowban, my account kept growing. And each new follower I gained was more engaged than ever before. I am grateful to the shadowban for helping me to re-align my social priorities away from vanity metrics and towards a social presence that actually brought value to my audience.

So, if you’re shadowbanned, I urge you not to try to game your way back to good standing. (Trust me, I’ve tried every trick in the book and the only way to cure a shadowban is with patience.) Instead, focusing on bringing your A game to each and every post, finding new accounts that align with your values, and engaging meaningfully and authentically each and every day. I bet you’ll find the shadowban was the best thing to happen to your ‘gram since stories.

]]>https://www.rkaink.com/instagram/feed/0What Can Conscious Business Leaders Do To Stand Up Against Racismhttps://www.rkaink.com/awkward-marketing-24-what-can-conscious-business-leaders-do-to-stand-up-against-racism/
https://www.rkaink.com/awkward-marketing-24-what-can-conscious-business-leaders-do-to-stand-up-against-racism/#respondThu, 17 Aug 2017 04:55:05 +0000https://www.rkaink.com/?p=9351What Can Conscious Business Leaders Do To Stand Up Against Rac… Awful, unconscionable things are happening in the world. You want to take a stand. You want to speak up. You want to be the kind of business leader who isn’t afraid to pick a side and lead from your values. But you’re also terrified. […]

Awful, unconscionable things are happening in the world. You want to take a stand. You want to speak up. You want to be the kind of business leader who isn’t afraid to pick a side and lead from your values. But you’re also terrified. You wonder, “Are politics bad for business? Will speaking my mind kill my brand?”

Join me for an exploration of the question, “Do business and politics mix?” and let’s discuss how conscious business leaders can respond to world events in a way that lines up with their values.

Show Notes: The Quick ‘n’ Dirty

Awful, unconscionable things are happening in the world. You want to take a stand. You want to speak up. You want to be the kind of business leader who isn’t afraid to pick a side and lead from your values. But you’re also terrified. You wonder, “Are politics bad for business? Will speaking my mind kill my brand?”

Join me for an exploration of the question, “Do business and politics mix?” and let’s discuss how conscious business leaders can respond to world events in a way that lines up with their values.

Full Transcript: The Whole Shebang

Hey, it’s RKA. Third time’s a charm! Coming at you today to talk about the topic do business and politics mix? And I don’t really want to beat around the bush too much about this today guys because, number one, I just tried to do this twice and I got cut off so I’m hoping that this one is gonna work. And also because I don’t have a funny, quirky, intro for you today, I’m not making a ton of jokes. I want to dive into this topic.

There have been so many conversations in the last few days in the wake of what happened in Charlottesville about what is a business leader’s responsibility, in the wake of horrible, awful, hateful world events, should we as conscious business leaders be speaking up, should we be standing up, should we be sharing our thoughts about this? Is it bad for business? Do business and politics, should they stay far away from each other? I’ve got some notes, I’m gonna be honest with you, I’m gonna pull those up right now.

The first thing I want to tell you, I want to really talk about, politics. What do we mean when we talk about politics? My opinion, politics is often a way that we hide behind the word politics to emotionally distance ourselves from what we’re really talking about. So, in the wake of Charlottesville, we had a situation involving white supremacy, Nazis, antisemitism, anti-immigrant violence, all of those things. But, we like to tuck those things, those words, those things, into the idea of politics. It’s not antisemitism, it’s not white supremacy, it’s not white nationalism, it isn’t racism, it’s politics. And I’ve heard so much of that in the last few days of, oh, I don’t want to talk about that because that’s politics.

And so, again, we’re hiding behind the word politics to distance ourselves emotionally from these topics, right? Now, of course they’re political, of course our lawmakers, because that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about politics in the traditional sense, right? Of course our lawmakers better have something to say about widespread violence against mass groups of people. Yes! But at the end of the day isn’t only political, it isn’t only politics, we’re talking about people here folks. We’re talking about people’s lives, we’re talking about people killing other people because they look a certain way, or because they believe certain things, because they’re from a certain place. That’s what we’re talking about.

So, I’ve got to say, when I’m talking about politics today, I’m talking about social justice. I’m talking about the fight to live in a world where all people are free from oppression. And, again, a lot of times we want to anesthetize ourselves from these conversations so we hide behind politics. I see a bunch of people here with me today, so glad to have you here, so honored to have you here for this discussion. So that right there, I’m just gonna say, so often we will say I don’t want to talk about it, it’s politics, when what we’re really talking about is people.

And in the case of Charlottesville, we’re talking about people’s lives, we’re talking about their freedom and when I mean freedom, I’m not talking about freedom of speech, the freedom to express your Nazi, white supremacist beliefs, I’m talking about your freedom to be free from opp-, your freedom from oppression. Your freedom from systemic oppression. Your freedom from any oppression. So that’s the first thing I want to say. We do the same thing with business, too, right? We’ll say, well, politics have nothing to do with business as if I can go over here, if I’m living over here and when I’m working I’m business RKA, alright? You know, as if racism waits until after business hours to really get going, right, like nine to five we’re all free of racism, we’re all free of intolerance, we’re all free of white supremacy, but at five PM, okay, it’s on, right? I don’t take off my business hat when world events are going on.

So I do also think that business and politics are words that we use to distance ourselves from the humanity of what is happening from humanity and from people and from the real, what’s really happening. As I said, racism doesn’t wait until after business hours to get all heated up, right? And so today, I’m not talking about business and politics, I’m talking about people, I’m talking about social justice, and I’m talking about what I feel is, you know, people who are here with me today, most of you, I’m sure, do agree with me that we are all fighting for a world that all people can be free from oppression. So let’s just start with that. Alright.

Second thing is, alright, we’re attacking this question of do business and politics mix and I really want to read for you something that Mark Silver shared a few days ago. And Mark Silver runs Heart of Business and he is an ally working against racism, working against white supremacy, and he does so as a business leader. And so this is what he had to say about business and politics. He said, “We cannot divorce business and politics and social justice for a very simple reason, where the wealth comes from. If we’re benefiting from the current economic system, which anybody who is watching this video is, if we’re creating a business that piggybacks on the successes of the culture around us, then we are benefiting directly from stolen wealth. The only reason that 13 colonies of the British Empire could successfully separate and then go on to create their own empire that has dominated so much of the globe is stolen wealth. It has been shown how land stolen from the indigenous peoples of the United States or of the North America directly, directly funded the budding war machine of the young US government and that was further augmented and expanded by the stolen labor of African peoples. It is easy to live a life of abundance and material ease if you steal land and then force people at gunpoint to work for you, right? The value of the stolen wealth goes into the trillions of dollars. Where would the US be? Where would Europe be if all the stolen goods and labor had to be given back? So especially when someone is promoting ways to build a business in this economy, if they aren’t acknowledging this fact, if they aren’t standing up against the injustice that has fed them, that deserves to be named a known among people who care. It’s humbling, it’s devastating to realize this. So when someone doesn’t want to get political in the realm of business, that is just ignorance. They are already political, sitting on a pile of skulls, as we all are.”

Okay, so that was all Mark Silver right there. That was all Mark Silver and I had to share. I had to share that because it really touched me and I think it’s a really powerful statement. So you already can tell where I stand on this issue, guys. Do business and politics mix? Yes, I think they do. Because, again, we’re talking about people and we’re talking about where wealth, you know, where the wealth that we all are sort of passing around today, where does it come from? So the rest of today’s video, I really want to talk about, okay, as a conscious business leader if you are impassioned to stand up to say something, to do something, what do you do? Like, okay, all is well and good to say, alright, business and politics, yeah, they do mix, yeah, they do have to do with each other, but what do you do, okay?

And today’s video is especially directed at people who consider themselves business leaders, especially those with platforms around change-making, transformation, healing, community building. If you want to change the world and that is what your brand and business are built on, this is for you. And honestly, even if you’re running a dry cleaning business on the corner of town, even if you’re just a regular Joe that doesn’t run a business at all, you can definitely get value out of today’s. And I want to see what you’re saying.

Okay, so a bunch of people are here, I’m so glad to see you here. Dave says, they say people only buy from those they know, like, and trust, which often means attracting some and repelling others. No one wants to buy bland. And, yes, Dave, I totally agree and I’m gonna bring that up in just a couple of minutes. And Heather says, yes, we have to have our own role in this, how we’re benefiting from the system. Right on! And I’m gonna talk about that, too, so it’s like you’re anticipating what I’m gonna say today and I’m so glad you’re here. I appreciate your presence. So, okay, what it comes down to is, you know, when we see real threats, real attacks on entire groups of people in the name of hate and when we purport to be leaders who are committed to changing the world, to helping people heal, to making the world a better place, to facilitating transformation, then, yes, we do have a responsibility to stand up and to say something in times like these. And you might say, well, why now, I mean, like things are always happening. Yeah, they are, they are!

So Charlottesville is one awful example but it’s only one. And I could give you dozens and dozens more from just the last few months of horrible things going on around the world in the name of racism, in the name of antisemitism, in the name anti-, there’s so many anti’s, right, and I could go on and on and on. I also want to quote Andrea Renae Johnson. She did a video yesterday and I’m gonna add a link to that video afterwards when I’m done with this video. I’m gonna have a whole list of resources for you. She did a video on the role of coaches, healers, transformative leaders, and spiritual teachers, in dismantling and healing white supremacy.

And I quote, she said, the way that we unpack and dismantle and heal white supremacy is the unlearning that we need to do. The recognizing, the naming, the healing we need to do within ourselves, within our communities, within our relationships with each other, the work that healers do, the work that coaches do, is essential to that. We have the skills for that and she’s talking, she’s a coach herself, she’s talking to other coaches, she’s got an amazing program called Coaching as Activism that I’m gonna link to later. And so I thought that that was really powerful because, yeah, if you especially are a change-making leader, if you’re a change-making coach, if you are, if your whole business is about transformation and spirituality then not only is there a responsibility because of the work that you do, but because you are especially equipped to help other people navigate, navigating that healing that needs to be done for us to move forward. We need to because you’re good at this! Right?

So, okay, now some of you might be thinking to me, or thinking to yourself or saying, alright, okay, well, oh what about, I don’t want to add to the noise, RKA. A lot of my people agree with me already. They agree that white supremacy is a problem. They agree that we need to end racism. They agree that antisemitism is wrong. They agree that anti-immigrant violence is wrong. So if I speak up and I say something, I’m just adding to the noise, right? I’m just preaching to the choir. And I have something to say about that. Preaching to the choir. Now, I want to ask you, have you ever, now, whether or not you’re, whatever faith you may be, I wonder if you’ve ever been to church or if you’ve ever watched a movie about church, right? And you’ve seen a preacher give an amazing sermon and seen what happens to the choir after that sermon.

Have you ever heard a choir sing after a preacher gives an amazing sermon that may or may not have been directed towards them? Well, I have and I’ll tell you what, a choir that has just heard an amazing message, they sing beautifully. They will electrify a crowd. And whether or not you might have been touched by the message of that preacher, after you’ve heard that choir sing, you cannot help but be electrified yourself. And so oftentimes we’ll say, oh, I don’t want to be preaching to the choir because what’s the point of that, I’m just preaching to people who already agree with me.

Oh, but, you know, the fact is when you are preaching to the choir and energizing them, the song that they sing is so much more beautiful and that song is going to infect the entire congregation and every single person that that congregation touches after they’ve heard that song. So, when you’re preaching to the choir, in a way you are still creating ripples of change, you are still electrifying that choir and that choir is in turn electrifying the congregation and then congregation is in turn taking that message with them for the rest of the day, for the rest of the week, for the rest of their lives. So that’s the first thing I have to say. If you’re worried about preaching to the choir, I say, go ahead because the choir needs to hear your message just as much as the congregation. Alright, off of this metaphor. Although I thought it was a good one.

Here’s the second thing people might say but you’re thinking to yourselves, but RKA, it could hurt my brand. I’m worried that speaking up about things could hurt my brand. And as Dave said earlier, he made a super awesome point, people want to work with brands that align with their values, okay? So just right off the bat. So at the same time that you’re concerned that you might repel people, I’m gonna tell you, you are drawing to you the right people. You are drawing to you people who have this, who will share your values.

And I got to tell you, if you’re a leader, if you’re truly a leader, you know, let’s go back to, what is the real thing that people really want to ask when they’re asking that question? Is being political, is taking a stand, is standing up for my values going to hurt my brand? What’s really on your mind? What are you really thinking? You’re thinking am I gonna lose money from people who are sympathetic to white supremacy? That’s really what it’s all about. I know it’s painful, right? But that’s what it really comes down to because at the end of the day any way that taking a stand for justice is going to hurt your brand is because you are going to repel people who disagree with you standing up for justice. And those people, by and large, are going to be white supremacists, racist, or white supremacist and racist sympathizers, okay?

So when you asked the question, is this gonna hurt my brand, you’re saying am I gonna lose money from racists? Well, of course, there is the question, do you want that money? Do you want that money in your pocket? And the second thing I’ll say about this is if you really truly are a leader, I’m gonna say this, you are destined to lose that money no matter what you do because sooner or later they’re gonna figure you out. You don’t necessarily even need to take a stand and say, I stand against white supremacy, black lives matter. You don’t necessarily have to say that.

Your people, those people that are destined to stop paying you because they are absolutely repelled by you standing up for justice, they were bound to figure it out like eventually. It was bound to come out. Those people were gonna leave you, stop buying from you, it was all gonna come out anyway. I mean, that’s my theory on that. And ultimately, my last thought about this is, ultimately it comes down to legacy. What do you want your life and business to be about? When all is said and done, what do you want to be remembered for? Okay?

And so could it hurt your brand? Yes! Let’s just be real about it, yeah! Could you lose money by standing up against and sharing and standing up for justice, could you, yeah. You could. But, as I said, you know, I have some thoughts about that. Alright, Heather has a question. Is it enough to share the message of the written more eloquently than you or should we be voicing it in our own words too? Oh! I love this question! Okay, Heather, you make me want to just, I’m just gonna skip ahead. I’m gonna go here. Let’s hit it because I want to talk about, alright, I really made my case for why I believe that, yes, business leaders have a responsibility to stand up for justice, to stand up and speak their values, to stand up for what is right.

And in this case, yes, I am saying very specifically standing up against white supremacy, standing up for black lives, standing up for Jewish lives, standing up for immigrant lives, standing up for, for justice, standing up to free people from oppression. Okay, that’s what I’m saying today. Alright, but how do you do that though? How do you do it? How, what, what do you do, how do you do it? And I love that Heather just asked that question. Is it enough to share the messages that are written more eloquently than you or should we be voicing it in our own words, too. Okay, I have four tips for you today for how you can stand up as a leader and number one, Heather you got it, is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

You don’t have to like sit down and write a poem and write a long blog post, write a whole poetic thing about your feelings about this. Now, just because I say you don’t have to doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t if it’s burning, if it’s coming out of you, absolutely, write it, share it, share it with the world. But what I want to say is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and in many cases I would almost say don’t. Don’t try. Don’t try to come up with your own sermon, if you will, all about why you believe what you believe and why you’re standing up for what you’re standing up for.

In fact, one of the best things you can do, and in this case I am really specifically talking to white leaders, one of the best things that you can do is to signal boost, is to lift up people of color, and lift up the people who are doing this work actively, who are speaking about this, who are writing about this, who are on the ground doing the work to lift up their voices and to share what is already being said. So, and to help them reach a wider audience because, yes, as a leader you have an audience that might not have been touched by different people that you might be paying attention to.

So no, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can share and lift up voices that are speaking on these topics already. Help them reach more people. And yes, specifically, help to lift up the voices of people of color. I want to read a quote from Meg Cramer who is a producer of the podcast Another Round and she said, being a good ally often means not being included in the conversation because the conversation isn’t about you. It’s good to listen. If you feel uncomfortable and excluded because you’re white, you should own those feelings. Amplifying the opinions and ideas of other people is a way to participate without taking up space. Boom! There you have it, okay? So Heather, I think that that speaks directly to your question.

One amazing way to participate in these conversations, to be a part of the change, is to lift up the voices of people who are doing this work already. It’s not always about you, okay? It doesn’t always, you know, you don’t necessarily need to go around and being like I’m so sad about Charlottesville, here are my feelings on the matter, right? That’s not necessarily productive. Alright, now if you have something, a burning desire to share something and you’ve got thoughts that you want to share, absolutely, by all means. But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and I would actually encourage you to be actively looking to lift up the voices of people who are doing this work in an ongoing way who might have a more eloquent way of saying it, just as Heather asks. So, that’s one big thing. And, yes, Megan says, yes, share people of color voices as a white person, the ones who are directly impacted, the ones who need to be amplified. That’s it. That’s what I’m talking about.

So this is my number two tip is there is inner work to be done. And when I quoted earlier Andrea Renae Johnson, she’s talked about this on her work, there’s healing to be done and also there is inner work to be done around identifying, okay, how am I being benefited by white supremacy? Right? And in other conversations because we all have it as Renae Brown discussed really amazingly yesterday, we all have privilege, how am I being affected by privilege? Right?

So there is inner work to be done. I know this seems counter, you know, counter intuitive because I just said alright this is all about standing up and speaking up but there’s work to be done that doesn’t require you to share all of your opinions with the world. So doing that work and modeling it to your community. Now, this is hard, because I’m not saying you need to like back pat, you need be like, hey guys, I just spent the morning thinking about my white privilege. I don’t know about that! That’s not necessarily what I’m saying here but I mean there is an element of self-reflection that needs to be done and it’s an ongoing process. And you need to be doing that to be an effective ally, right? So doing that work and modeling it to your community and when I say model I would say, again, it’s not about going in and be like, hi, I just thought I spent the day really just simmering on white supremacy and all the ways it’s benefited me. More like sharing resources and tips and effective strategies for doing that inner work and helping your community, helping your followers to do that as well in their own lives. It’s a narrow line, it’s a fine line between doing that and then like giving yourself a bunch of brownie points for it, alright? And that’s something I would say, you’ve got to walk that line very delicately.

The third thing that I wanted to say about this is you really want to, you want to actively spend time listening and observing and that’s also what Meg Cramer said in that quote that I read before. It’s not always about like jumping in and being a part of every conversation and being like here’s how I feel about it, here’s what I think, that’s not what I’m saying. That’s not what I think standing up for justice means. Listening and observing and holding space for people, especially people who, you know, people who are there in Charlottesville, for example. People who, you know, know people who were there, people who are on the ground doing this work, you know, being there listening to their stories, being present for that.

And, again, modeling that in the communities that you are a part of, in the communities where you are a leader. Showing your community how to listen and observe, creating courageous spaces and showing your community what it looks like to have a respectful conversation and to validate and hold space as opposed to constantly just bombarding people with this is what I think, this is what I think, this is what I think. So, again, this goes, you know, this goes in opposition a little bit to the idea of standing up and speaking up doesn’t always mean talking. Right? And standing up and showing up and doing something to fight against racism, to fight against oppression doesn’t always mean, you know, preaching to people, right? That’s not what I’m saying. So as I said, my last two tips were doing the inner work and modeling that as well as listening and observing. Now I’m not always good at these, I’m, by the way, disclaimer, I’m not always good at this stuff. I kind of suck at a lot of it. But I’m working on it every single day. So these tips are just as much for me as they are for you, man, you know, man and woman, and all, one and all. One and all.

The fourth thing that I really recommend in terms of what do you do as a conscious business leader, educate yourself. Continue educating yourself, continue, and you know, this goes hand-in-hand with doing the inner work, this goes hand-in-hand with listening and observing, this goes hand-in-hand with what I said earlier about amplifying the voices of the people who are doing this work on the ground right now, is consistently continuing to invest in educating yourself about these topics, okay? And as soon as I get off live today I’ve got a ton of resources to share with you for some really great ways that you can educate yourself. Because, you know, Google’s great but it’s not always about going to Google because you can’t trust everything Google gives you.

So there’s some really awesome programs and groups that I’m gonna recommend. The first is Andrea Renae Johnson, I talked about her before, she’s got a program called Coaching as Activism. It’s a 10 week program for coaches, healers, and leaders who want to bring their commitment to healing, justice, and liberation into their work and life. So if you’re a coach and you’re doing coaching work in some capacity, Andrea Renae Johnson has an amazing 10 week program, Coaching as Activism, I will drop a link to that after the live. Desiree Adaway and Jessica Fish have a program also called Diversity is an Asset and it’s all about learning about diversity, equity, and inclusion and why they’re essential to embracing people who are different from you and learning effective ways to bring more diversity, equity, and inclusion into your personal and professional life. So that’s another awesome program that’s available. The Selfish Ally has a program specifically for white folks. It’s called Authentic Allyship and it’s a coaching group for people who want to be a better ally in a way that is healthier for both you and people of color. And it’s all about, you know, it’s a group that’s all about tending to your personal and cultural traumas. And Selfish Ally is, really offers a very gentle approach to this. It’s not a harsh approach and that can be, you now, if you’re hoping to be a white ally but you don’t know where to start and you’re scared, you know, that is a really great program to start with. And finally I would say Patti Digh and Victor Lee Lewis have a four week program, An Introduction to Racism, Hard Conversations. It’s all about helping people understand, learn, and deepen their knowledge of racism and learn how to become more effective allies against racism. I’m gonna have a link to that. Oh, oh, oh! And finally, there is a book I recommend. I got this recommendation from Paul Zelizer who is another conscious business leader who is having these conversations who’s not afraid to lead and stand up for, stand up for justice. And the book that he recommends is called No More Heroes, Grassroots Challenges to the Savior Mentality. And again, this is a really great book for white allies specifically how to avoid the white savior complex that so many of us get wrapped up in. And it’s by Jordan Flaherty and I’m gonna have a link to that just after I get done with this live. So, cool. So, yeah, it’s all about educating yourself and, you know, diversifying the voices you’re paying attention to.

So, one thing that’s really interesting about Facebook is the more things that you like, Facebook is gonna send you more stuff like that. So, yeah, as part of educating yourself, it is about actively seeking out voices of people who have different experiences of the world than you, who look different than you, who are from different places than you, who have different backgrounds than you. Paying attention to those voices and expanding the amount of people that you are paying attention to online, that you are liking, that you are commenting on, because the more that you do that, the more you will see diverse voices in your feed, the more you will get exposed to different ideas, and it’s not just gonna be an echo chamber of people saying the same thing that you say, you know, all that kind of stuff. Awesome! Awesome stuff. And actually the fifth thing, I thought I had four but I actually have five.

The fifth recommendation that I have for you is put your money where your mouth is and help other people discern, help your followers discern what actions they should take. So, sometimes it’s about calling your lawmakers and putting pressure on them on a certain issue. Sometimes it’s about going and showing up to those rallies, showing up and being there to protest against these horrible things that are happening, right? Sometimes it’s about donating to great organizations that are on the ground doing this work. And so after you do the inner work, and after you listen and observe, and after you educate yourself, you’re gonna have a lot of resources that maybe your followers don’t know about or might not have the time or the knowledge to curate themselves and so you want to help, you know, the people that are following you understand what steps they can take.

And today, you know, one of my big calls to action is gonna be to ask you to maybe check out and potentially donate to the Southern Poverty Law Center. I know when I was in law school working with the National Lawyer’s Guild, which is a lawyer’s association that is dedicated to all the things that we’re talking about today, ending racism and fighting for a world free of oppression, I went to several conferences, or not conferences but workshops hosted by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They are doing amazing work! I could not recommend them enough and they’re on the ground doing this stuff and they could use some dollars so I’ll be adding that link as well after today’s live. Oh my gosh! We’re almost, we’re already at 30 minutes so I’m gonna wrap this up. I’ve just got a few more things I want to share with you specifically. Okay, we’ve talked about what to do and now I want to talk real quick about what not to do.

Alright, a couple of years ago I, there was this brand and their tagline for this brand was “doing good is good for business.” And this brand was dedicated to getting entrepreneurs to embed charity work and philanthropy into their business model because you’ll make more money doing it. Okay, now, I’m not saying that charity and philanthropy and that donating to worthy causes isn’t good, I’m not saying don’t do it. However, when you are doing these things because it’s going to help your bottom line, that it is a backwards way to approach it.

And so this is what I want to say to you guys, do not be the guy, do not be the leader who uses something like Charlottesville as an entry point into your email of the day, right? I’m gonna put two sentences about Charlottesville at the top of my email and then the rest of that email is gonna be all about my brand and I’m gonna end with a call to action that leads people into like to buying something or to watching a video that has nothing to do with this. Or to, you know, here’s how you can get signed up for my four week coaching program. Blech! Pardon me while I vomit everywhere!

And guess what? I saw plenty of people doing that in the last few days. People I thought I respected, people who are big name voices out there who’ve got hundreds of thousands of followers were using Charlottesville as a hook to get you to click on the email and then immediately spending the rest of the email body talking about their brand and like, join my thing, like, watch this video about like productivity. No! Don’t be that guy!

If you are going to stand up and take a stand for justice and take a stand, you know, for what you believe in, do not use it as a way to sell something. I mean, the only exception to this, I would say, would be is if you are selling something that has directly to do with dismantling systems of oppression. Like, if what you’re selling is all about helping people learn about racism or helping people be better allies or helping people unravel these things, okay! Yes, that’s a totally valid lead into a sell for something like that. But, as I said, don’t be the guy that uses Charlottesville as a hook for your email list and then immediately spend another 400 words talking about like how you can like have a better work space or like how you can, I don’t even know. Like, literally, I don’t even know but I saw that being done several times this week and it’s disgusting! This isn’t a brand builder, people! This isn’t about making more money! This isn’t an opportunity to sell something! And when you do that, you’re gonna lose the trust of your audience and you’re gonna show your true colors. Don’t be that guy!

Alright, number two, and that’s my most passionate one, but number two, this one goes out to all the white leaders out there specifically, do not ask your followers to educate you and specifically do not call upon like your black friend. Be like, hey, you know, I’m really upset about Charlottesville, I’m gonna tag my black friend in this post and ask them, tell me what you’re feeling about it. What should we do? No! A lot of the times people of color are called upon to be our educators like how should I be a better white person, what should I feel about this, what should I do next? Guess what, that’s exhausting. We are asking them to do free emotional labor for us. And can you imagine being constantly called upon to explain to people, you know, how they should feel about something that is directly negatively impacting your life? Don’t be that guy! It’s the not job of your audience to educate you. This goes back to the questions, or to the tips that I had before. It’s really all about educating yourself.

Don’t ask people to be your teachers and if you’re gonna ask them to be your teachers, you know, offer to pay them money for it, right? Offer to pay them very well. And still, I would tread very lightly in making that offer, right? So, again, you don’t want to be, this is not an opportunity for a sales pitch, this is not an opportunity to ask people to educate you or to do the job of education for you. And finally, and I think I’ve said this before but I want to, you know, this is my third Do Not Do is it’s not all about you. This is not a, you know, Jezebel wrote something earlier this week, something about like white women, this is not about your brand, okay? And this not about your feelings and this is not about like, I’m so sad about, like, let me tell you how sad I was when I watched the news. Like, urrgh, I don’t know! Making and centering the story around your feelings about this is not the way to go. And so at the end of the day I would say this isn’t about you, don’t make it about you, make it about how we can be moving forward together, how we can be taking steps towards a better world, not necessarily about how you personally feel about it. And how, like, what happened when you watched the news and how you had a panic attack. And especially and specifically I am talking to white allies when I say this, okay? And that would be that. I’ve got, I, I think that you know that I came into this, I tried to really make it look like I had a neutral stance on this topic, guys. But as you can see, I’m not so neutral! I’m also not perfect and I also don’t know all the answers and I’m also just another person in this world who feels really passionate that we all deserve to live in a world free of oppression.

But I’m not trying to say I’m the model or I’m a hero, I’m none of those things. I’m just a girl standing in front of Facebook Live asking you to consider a few ideas that I had today. And that would be that. I really appreciate you showing up here. I really appreciate your thoughts. Love you guys and I’ll see you next week.

]]>https://www.rkaink.com/awkward-marketing-24-what-can-conscious-business-leaders-do-to-stand-up-against-racism/feed/0How to Create Great Content When You Have NO IDEA What To Sayhttps://www.rkaink.com/awkward-marketing-23-how-to-create-great-content-when-you-have-no-idea-what-to-say/
https://www.rkaink.com/awkward-marketing-23-how-to-create-great-content-when-you-have-no-idea-what-to-say/#respondThu, 10 Aug 2017 04:50:53 +0000https://www.rkaink.com/?p=9348How to Create Great Content When You Have NO IDEA What To Say Do you ever feel like the MAYOR of Blank Screen City? You've heard that "content is king" (whatever that means) and your marketing team (or your awkward neighborhood web designer 😉) keep yammering on about the importance of blogging. But the problem […]

You've heard that "content is king" (whatever that means) and your marketing team (or your awkward neighborhood web designer ) keep yammering on about the importance of blogging. But the problem is, half the time…

YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT TO SAY TO PEOPLE!?!

And this blogging thing is something you're supposed to do AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN for…ever???

I see you. And today I'm breaking down my secrets to creating winning content, even when your Inspiration Tank is running on fumes.

Check out Episode #23 of #AwkwardMarketing for my 4 WAYS to BUST PAST WRITER'S BLOCK and create content that resonates with your audience.

Show Notes: The Quick ‘n’ Dirty

Do you ever feel like the MAYOR of Blank Screen City? You’ve heard that “content is king” (whatever that means) and your marketing team (or your awkward neighborhood web designer ) keep yammering on about the importance of blogging. But the problem is, half the time…

YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT TO SAY TO PEOPLE!?!

And this blogging thing is something you’re supposed to do AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN for…ever???
I see you. And today I’m breaking down my secrets to creating winning content, even when your Inspiration Tank is running on fumes.

Check out Episode #23 of #AwkwardMarketing for my 4 WAYS to BUST PAST WRITER’S BLOCK and create content that resonates with your audience.

Full Transcript: The Whole Shebang

Oh, hey. It’s RKA and that was my best impression of a blank face. This is like the blank screen, blank screen, if it was just my face. Am I getting it? Am I rocking the blank look, the blank? This is all about blank screens today, guys. What, how about awkwardness? Let’s give a three years for awkward marketing. It is episode 23 of Awkward Marketing, and that was just about as awkward of an intro as you could get, but here I am, folks. I’m back from vacay. I’m feeling a little bit discombobulated and

I’m super excited to be here with you today for another episode of Awkward Marketing, and today the name of the game is all about when you’re feeling uninspired, when you’re staring at that blank screen and when you’re the mayor of blank screen city and you can’t come up with a damn thing to say on your blog, to share with your people, to create content about, how do you keep creating content that resonates and lands with your audience? I mean, we’ve all been there, right? We’re staring at a blank screen. We can’t come up with anything. We know we gotta create content for the old blogger blog and we got nothing to say.

I mean, I’ve sat in front of a screen for hours at a time trying to come up with content that’s gonna land and not waste my time and my readers, and so that’s what I’m talking about today. I got four ways to bust past your writer’s block and to create content that actually lands, so I’m just gonna head into it, and today I’m doing something totally crazy. I am trying to broadcast live on Instagram on the same time that I’m broadcasting live on Facebook, but I haven’t clicked go yet, so let me do that right now. It’s going on, I’m going live, doin’ the damn thing. Oh my goodness gracious. I’m live. Here I am, Instagram, how you doin’?

All right, it’s another episode of Awkward Marketing. We’re talking about how to bust past a blank screen so you can create content that actually lands with people, because, I mean, you could always create just filler content that means nothing to people, right? But we wanna be using, you know, using your time in the best way possible, so that’s what we’re talking about today. So I got four ways to bust past writer’s block. Heather’s here, so glad to see you. And all right, let’s just hit it. Number one, my number one way to create content that resonates even when you’re looking at a blank screen, and that is to survey what are your clients always saying, always repeating, always asking you about. This, I mean this is fertile ground for finding some amazing content that’s gonna, that’s gonna land with people.

So I’ll give you a little example of how I’ve applied this in my own biz. All right, I, you know, every once in a while, I will kind of take stock of my quote forms, my application forms. When someone comes in to start working with me, I have them fill out a little application form. If you’re curious about what that looks like, you can go to RKAink.com/quote, and you will be taken to my application form.

You can also just go to RKAink.com and it’s there everywhere. You can’t miss it. I say, you know, “Work with me,” and that’s where you’re taken, and so every once in a while I’ll take stock of the answers that I’ve received in this quote form, and this is one of the reasons I’m not doing like a typical quote form that you’ll see with, you know, you know, “What’s your name? What’s your phone number? “What’s your email? How can I help you?” That’s not enough information, folks, and little aside here, I like to have my application form be a little bit longer than my competitors because it’s one way I can kind of pre-qualify people to see if they’re serious. There’s a lot of folks out there who are price shopping. They just wanna know how much it’s gonna cost. Well, spoiler alert, I don’t tell people how much it’s gonna cost upfront because I don’t know yet, because every single project that I do is different, so there isn’t just a one size fits all price, so if someone goes and takes the time to go through my quote form, I’m sorry I don’t give them that immediate gratification of giving them a number, and yeah, that application form is my way of getting to know them better, qualifying to see if they’re really serious or if they’re just price shopping. So I’ll go and I’ll take stock of all of the answers that I’ve received for the last year, for the last six months and see where I can find the patterns. Heather says it’s all about those initial questions and she’s so right.

You can tell so much about someone, how they answer the, you know, the first questions that you give them, and I can tell. You know, once in a while I’ll get a quote form where I can see that someone has phoned it in. Like, they’re just like going real fast through the questions, they’re not answering in depth, and I know pretty much right then and there that this is probably not someone I’m gonna be working with. I can just tell right away. So anyway, back to creating content out of your quote forms. So I’ll go back and I’ll take stock of what are the patterns that I’m seeing.

A couple of years ago, or actually no, not a couple years. It feels like, it feels like so long. Last year I wrote a blog called You Don’t Want Marie Forleo’s Web Site. Now, we all know Marie Forleo’s web site is divine, right? It’s gorgeous, so in that sense, who wouldn’t want her web site? And yet, what I, you know, this is the reason that I wrote that blog was ’cause I was seeing every other person who came through my quote form was listing her site as one of their favorite sites, so when I saw that pattern, I was like, “Hey, something’s up here.”

So many people who are my ideal client are really attracted to Marie Forleo’s branding. This is an opportunity to create some content that’s gonna resonate with my audience. So, so, that’s the first thing I wanna give you is, you wanna look at the patterns of what your clients or your prospective clients are saying, are asking, are talking about, are ranting about. You know, that’s another thing that I like, and I’ll get to that actually in a couple of minutes with number three, but you know, the first great place for finding content is gonna be right there with your clients. What are they saying again and again? What are they wrestling with again and again? That’s number one. All right, my number two.

My number two way to create content when you’re looking at a blank screen, content that lands, content that resonates, is what are you always saying again and again and again? So if you find yourself repeating the same lesson, the same little spiel, like for example, I get folks all the time, and actually this is good, this is a good one. I’ve kind of addressed this actually in my shows, in my Awkward Marketing episodes, but I haven’t really written a blog about this, so I’ve gotta take my own advice, and that is I see people all the time, my clients are constantly complaining about how their reach has gone down on Facebook since in the last few years, the algorithm has changed, and of course Facebook is privileging people who pay for advertising, so I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a client come to me ranting about that, and then I kind of have this, you know, my pat response. I’ve got a response to that that I’ve said again and again and again and again. I repeat it to almost every single client that I work with, and so that, you know, I’ve done a Facebook Live about that. Probably should turn that into a blog. I know I’m behind on that. Oh god, I gotta walk my talk. But, but that is, you know, a really great example of content that I know is gonna land because I’m already having these conversations all the time with clients. I’m already bringing this value to clients. I’m repeating myself. I could give this spiel in my sleep, and so I know that this is gonna be ripe territory for some really great content.

Another example of this is, you know, stock photos. I have clients coming to me all the time, “Where do you get your stock photos? “How can I find great free stock photos?” You know, and so I created a blog out of that. My 14 favorite, you know, favorite sources for free stock photos. I’ve got a blog about that, and if you’re like, “Oh,” you know, “Where are all these amazing resources that you reference?” They are on my blog and I’ve got a little cheat sheet for ya. Go to RKAink.com/content. I’ve got a little cheaty cheaty sheet sheet, and I link to all the blogs that I talk about today as well as I give you some really good ideas and brainstorms for how you can come up with content when you’re feeling blocked, so RKAInk.com/content. Check her out, she’s there for ya. Yeah, so that’s number two. My number two way to kind of come up with content when you’re feeling blocked is to think about, “Okay, what am I saying to my people over and over again? “What am I teaching so many times “that I could say it in my sleep?” That’s another awesome way to create great content.

Okay, number three. You wanna go where the conversations are already happening. Now, this is a tip I’m nabbing from one of my favorite online business managers, Sofia Garces of Tiger Cat Studios, and when she talks about to her clients about creating content, she recommends that you go to Facebook groups. Go where the conversations are already happening whether it be a Facebook group, a LinkedIn group, maybe you’re part of an Instagram pod. I don’t know, maybe you’re on CoCommercial. Go to those places where people are already congregating and having conversations and pay attention to what they’re talking about. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel here, folks.

You know, Facebook groups are such an amazing fount of information and inspiration, ’cause you can see, and here’s my trick. I like to pay attention to what are, what are people pissed about. What are people ranting about? What are people having big angry conversations about? That’s an amazing way, you know, amazing little like, hot topic, you know, to zone in. You know people care about this topic. They’re pissed about it and they’re having angry conversations within Facebook groups about it. They’re so much more likely to click on that topic when it scrolls through their feed in terms of a blog or a vlog or a podcast, and so you wanna go and check out where people are getting like, super emotional, you know, and actually, the Facebook topic that I referenced before about people being pissed that they’re getting less engagement on Facebook than they used to before it was pay to play, that’s another one where it was like my clients were complaining about it, people in my Facebook groups were complaining about it, so I knew that that was a topic that was really gonna land with people, so that’s my third tip.

Go to the groups that you’re a part of. Go to where the conversations are already happening and pay attention to what people are saying there, specifically what makes them mad, because they’re totally emotional about this. They care about this and they’re more likely to wanna engage with content that potentially answers that question, solves that problem, and helps them navigate that frustration, so yes. And R and R At Home says she loves, she loves my cheat sheets as much as skimming and scanning. Hey, I got that one on the first try. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re gonna have to go back to the last episode because that’s all I’ll say about that.

Okay, so here’s my fourth tip. This is the final tip for brainstorming content ideas when you’ve got a blank screen, and this is gonna be, okay, I’ve said, the number one tip is what do your clients say. Number two is what are you always saying again and again and again and again. Number three, what are people saying in Facebook groups and in online groups? What are they mad about? What are they talking about? What’s happening already in the conversation? Number four is what are they not saying, and this is all about other people in your industry so I want you to go creep around and check out what are other people in your industry writing about, so again, this is all about you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You know, everything, there’s nothing new under the sun. We know that, so it’s not about creating a brand new topic out of your butt like, you know, from nowhere. It’s all about, you know, we can, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We can find newness in tried and true topics that you’ve seen again and again and again, so you wanna go and look, other people in your industry, what are they writing about, what are they talking about, what are they vlogging and podcasting and other inging about and you wanna go and pay attention to where the holes are in their analysis, in their breakdown, in their teaching. What are they not saying? What are they leaving out? Where are they leaving you an opening to come in and be like, “Okay, you know, here’s my top five things “that no one else in my industry is saying.” That’s a blog post right now, right there, you know, and so you wanna pay attention. You know, what are other people in your industry talking about and what are they not talking about? You know, and this is awesome because this is your way, this is how you can set yourself apart. This is how you can innovate.

An example that I can use for myself would be, all right, so lots of people in the online marketing space, lots of people in the online business space, love to talk about six figures this and this figure that, how do you make six figures. I had a six figure minute. Last, you know, like, four seconds ago, I made six figures. I blinked my eyes. You know, it’s six figure this and six figure that, but when I took kind of a survey of what was being written and talked about and podcasted about when it comes to six figure businesses, what I wasn’t seeing is kind of the dark side of that, the untold story of the six figures, you know, you know, so I ended up writing an article about what my competitors and other people in my industry weren’t talking about, which is the, you know, sure, you can have a six figure year, but what about your overhead?

What about your margins? Are you actually profitable? You might be able to say, “Oh yeah, I’ve made six, “seven figures,” but let’s talk about that bottom line. So I wrote a blog post all about, called, you know, I think it was called I Had a Six Figure Year and All I Got was this Lousy Blog Post, and my approach there was to talk about something that nobody else or that I at least wasn’t seeing talked about that often in my industry, which was kind of like the true story of six figures or how you can make six figures and still not actually be a success, and so that was my kind of way of reinventing a really tired topic and, you know, adding in my own thoughts to it and saying something that was just not being said. And that is it, guys. Breakin’ it down. What are your clients saying? What are you always saying? What are people in the groups you’re a part of saying, and what is your industry not saying? These are the places to start when you’re feeling blocked, when you’re feeling all gummed up and you’re looking at a blank screen and you can’t think of any great ideas. This is where you start. I’ve got a little rundown of some different, you know, topics that you might use to jog your creativity. If you go to RKAInk.com, RKAINK.com/content, check it out, get the cheat sheet. May you never have writer’s block again. Love you guys. I’ll see you next week. It’s been so awkward, so wonderful. I’ll see you later.